The new year brings new beginnings. At the Fayette County Connersville Economic Development Group, we are looking forward and ahead to both.
Over the last number of months, I’ve been planning and developing the idea of two roundtables, one for workforce development and another to support small business and entrepreneurship. These two groups will have different missions but will operate in a similar format.
Small Business and Entrepreneurship Connection
This roundtable will kick off in January and bring together small business leaders with around 25 or less employees, entrepreneurs either established or aspiring and resources to support them. Our team will partner with the east central Indiana Small Business Development Center in this endeavor. Our mission here is to facilitate interaction and discussion between small business owners, operators and resources that can support the businesses and individuals.
At times, training might be facilitated by lunch-and-learns. Mentoring and succession advice and matching might also be available. It will be a mostly informal discussion between peers, and we will see where it leads. We also hope to add a student element to help promote the idea of entrepreneurship to our youth.
Workforce Development Forum
This group will be commissioned in February and will be tasked with supporting companies with more than 25 employees. Again, we will bring together peers to have a back-and-forth about how things are going and struggles they might be having.
We will bring trainers, educators and other resources to this roundtable to help support workforce readiness. Interaction with Ivy Tech, IU East, local schools and the Whitewater Career Center and Eastern Indiana Works, will be facilitated for training and education programming.
Periodically we will have a presence from Indiana Economic Development Corporation to discuss loan programs and tax incentives available for job creation.
These are building blocks for growth
This is work we are very excited about as it is one of the building block programs we are putting in place to support economic growth in our city and county. Communication and dialogue with local businesses and companies help us ascertain the needs of local employers so we can assist them in solving problems and providing support.
The starting dates for these gatherings will be announced soon, and each group will meet every other month. You can contact me at 765-827-1366 or email me at bcolter@edg connersville.com if you would like to participate.
Brad Colter is CEO/president of the Economic Development Group of Fayette County.